Toyota Motor (TYO:7203) said on Monday that its global sales grew for an eighth consecutive month in August, aided chiefly by strength in its U.S. sales which also helped offset weakness in the Japanese market.
The world’s biggest automaker clocked a 2.2% year-on-year increase in sales in August, to 844,963 vehicles. Its U.S. sales surged 13.6%, helped mainly by Washington agreeing to a lower tariff rate on Japanese goods.
Toyota’s sales in January to August were up 5% from the same period last year.
Toyota’s annual vehicle production rose 4.9% in August to 744,176 vehicles, bringing its year-to-date production up to 6.5 million vehicles.
But the automaker’s sales in its home market, Japan, fell 12.1% y-o-y in August. The company’s domestic sales were hurt in part by a prolonged safety and testing scandal involving several of the company’s models.
Unfavorable demographics in Japan have also dented the company’s overall domestic market.
On the other hand, Toyota has benefited greatly from robust overseas demand for its hybrid models– a category the company had pioneered over 30 years ago.
Monday’s sales data included Toyota’s luxury Lexus brand but excluded its Daihatsu and Hino sub-brands.
Including the two, Toyota’s total annual sales grew 1.3% in August to 900,598 vehicles.
